Chilean men carved swastikas into body of gay man they killed

Four men convicted of murder of Daniel Zamudio, which sparked national debate in Chile about hate crimes

The judge said the attackers burned Zamudio with cigarettes and beat him with glass bottles in a park in Santiago in March 2012. Photograph: Begsteiger/McPhoto/Capital Pict/ Begsteiger/McPhoto/Capital Pict

The judge said the attackers burned Zamudio with cigarettes, beat him with glass bottles and broke his right leg with a heavy stone before they abandoned him in a park in Santiago on 3 March 2012.

The sentence will be read on 28 October. Prosecutors are asking for jail terms ranging from eight years to life in prison.

"We're satisfied with this ruling. There's a before and an after the Zamudio case," said Rolando Jiménez, president of the Gay Liberation and Integration Movement.

"It generated such outrage because of the brutality, the hate, that it helped raised awareness," he said. "We've witnessed a cultural change that finally led to an anti-discrimination law."

The law had been stuck in congress for seven years, but President Sebastián Pinera put it on the fast track after Zamudio's murder. The law adopted last year enables people to file anti-discrimination lawsuits and adds hate-crime sentences for violent crimes.

Zamudio, a clothing store salesman, was the second of four brothers. He had hoped to study theatre.

"Nothing can change the tremendous pain suffered by Daniel's parents," presidential spokeswoman Cecilia Pérez said. "But there's no doubt that today some tranquility has finally reached their hearts. It's the tranquility that comes with justice."